Best way to move broadband from TalkTalk to Orange?

macman

TehJumpingJawa wrote: »

I resent that they are now squeezing their customers for more cash.
I've been with TalkTalk for atleast 24 months, and have consistently exceeded the bandwidth cap throughout this period without any punishment.
It appears to be a recent change in policy that they are now enforcing bandwidth caps. (3 warnings, then a forced increase in cost).

I see 40GB to be a completely unreasonable cap for a 14Mb/s connection, as given a little effort I can exhaust my monthly allowance in less than 6.5 hours! That's a permitted utilisation of less than 1%.
Would you be content if your road tax permitted you to only drive for 6.5 hours every month?

Though the real motivation for switching is one of cost.

80GB allowance on TalkTalk works out at (£6.50+£12.90+£5) £24.40/month, which is not competitive when compared to cashback enhanced deals from other suppliers.
Ditch & switch is King.

You signed up to a 40GB cap package, and they've let you go over that for nearly 2 years. And now you're complaining because they want to enforce it?
I presume that, had they enforced it from day one, you would have been OK with that then?
Your analogy should really be 'they have allowed me to drive around without a tax disc for 2 years, and now they've nicked me. Unfair!'

TehJumpingJawa

Factoring in the reconnection fee, it appears Sky will be the cheapest for unlimited broadband.

+£16.81/month for 6 months
+£22.25/month thereafter
+£35 one-off cost
-£50 cashback

Averaging £18.28/month over the 12 month min. contract

Though I am still unclear as to whether I will be left in the same position I am now.
Do Sky use a BT line, or do they manage the line themselves à la TalkTalk?

macman

If you're on a Sky LLU exchange, then it should be LLU, if the capacity exists. But as already outlined, you may not be able to transfer TT LLU to Sky LLU anyway.
As was mentioned by Mark, there are a few accounts on here of successful direct transfers from another LLU service to Sky-but I wouldn't hold your breath.
If not on Sky LLU exchange, you'll be offered the dire Sky Connect, which is just a resold BT Wholesale service.

Mark_In_Hampshire

If you have Sky line rental and Sky broadband and it's LLU then you'll have the same issue if you want to move away, because that's also an MPF (Metallic Full Path) service.

BY taking on the supply of both parts of the service, they can make it cheaper, because the only bit they have to rent from BT is the physical phone line.

That, actually, is why it's cheaper than a BT Wholesale (not MPF) service.

They should be able to effect the transfer.

TehJumpingJawa

Right.... wow, what a hideously complicated mess.

TehJumpingJawa

Found this, which seems to fit my scenario perfectly.
Interestingly it also hints that Sky use both WLR and MPF, depending on what kit they have in your exchange.

This seems ridiculous that 2 customers buying the same product from the same company can be treated so differently.
One getting a WLR service, not losing their BT line, and so have a much wider choice when they later switch elsewhere.
The other getting an MPF service, losing their BT line, and so limiting their choice in the future (or incurring further cost to restore the BT line).

Out of interest, what authorisation do ISPs need to switch their existing customers from WLR to MPF?
I'm fairly sure that when I joined TalkTalk we were not on an MPF connection; it was a silent 'upgrade' at some point. (probably when the exchange went from 2Mb/s to 8Mb/s)

I wonder why Ofcom don't stipulate that ISPs must reinstate a customer's connectivity within the exchange to the state it was in when they joined them; seems fair to me.

Mark_In_Hampshire

I don't disagree with you, by the way. It is a complete mess.

However you say "the state it was in when they joined them"

There is no "neutral state". The line is with one or other company. Either it's with BT, or Talk Talk, or Sky

BT is a privatised company which has an infrastructural monopoly in the areas where you can't get cable.

So, someone has to move the wiring around, and as BT is a private company, it can charge for that. I've wondered before why this can't simply be done remotely and digitally, a man or woman going to the exchange moving physical wires around seems very antiquated. But then you have to remember that BT is a private company. It is not in their interests to make it easy, is it?

The optimum set up would be a neutral infrastructure provider which provides the ducting and other providers could either rent the wiring or run their own over it. The KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for that neutral provider would be the quality of the network. But we don't have that. What we do have is a toothless and largely useless regulator who cannot compel BT to do anything much with various sticking plasters applied to try to patch up the obvious flaws of the system.

To answer the questions you pose:

If you contract e.g. Talk Talk for phone and broadband, they can elect to deliver that as they see fit. So if they have their own equipment at the exchange, it can be migrated to that. That might for instance improve your broadband speed (LLU not BTW) and bring down your prices.

In terms of people being treated differently, one aspect as alluded to above is price. There's a reason why the ones you picked out are the cheapest.

TalkTalk

Hi TehJumpingJawa,

when you signed up your price will have been based on the fact that the service available was already LLU or soon to be LLU. Customers who are not scheduled to go to LLU pay an additional £15.

I have to say I would agree that an LLU migration system be put in place and this should be enforced by OFCOM.

I cannot be one hundred percent on this, but I am pretty sure that if SKY also have LLU available to you that they can migrate you off our service.

Ady